1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a combined drying and refrigerating storehouse and, more particularly, to a combined drying and refrigerating storehouse using a heat pump unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a drying technique has been generally utilized to easily store and transport agricultural, marine or livestock products, and a refrigeration or freezing technique has been generally utilized to maintain the freshness of the agricultural, marine or livestock products.
In general, the agricultural, marine or livestock products are stored in the refrigerating storehouse after the products are dried. Accordingly, the products are transported to and stored in the refrigerating storehouse after the products are dried, so that the treatment and transportation costs of the products become expensive.
Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 50-16022 discloses a combined drying and refrigerating storehouse for reducing the treatment and transportation costs. In this combined drying apparatus and refrigerating storehouse, the unitized principal parts of the drying and refrigerating apparatus are mounted on one side of a dry and refrigerating chamber, and the unit is fabricated by disposing an air-cooled condenser and a water-cooled condenser in parallel between a compressor and an evaporator. For a drying operation, high temperature and high pressure coolant gas is condensed in the water-cooled condenser, and indoor air is dehumidified and cooled by the evaporator, heated by the water-cooled condenser and circulated through the drying and refrigerating chamber by its blower, thereby allowing articles to be dried. On the other hand, for a refrigerating operation, the temperature of the drying and refrigerating chamber is lowered by the water-cooled condenser and the evaporator after the drying of the articles is completed, thereby allowing articles to be refrigerated.
However, in this conventional combined drying apparatus and refrigerating storehouse, since the water-cooled condenser is formed separately to condense coolant gas, the compressed coolant liquid is dehumidified and cooled in the evaporator and, thereafter, the dehumidified and cooled coolant is heated in the air-cooled condenser, its construction is complicated and the time period for drying articles in the storehouse is lengthened owing to difficulty in increasing the temperature of drying air.
In order to overcome the problems, the inventor of the present invention proposed a combined drying apparatus and refrigerating storehouse in Korean Patent No. 226679. In this combined drying apparatus and refrigerating storehouse, a exhaustion chamber, a circulation passage and a drying and refrigerating chamber are formed one after another in a housing, an outdoor heat exchanger and an indoor heat exchanger are respectively mounted on the sidewall of the exhaustion chamber and under the partition plate of the drying and refrigerating chamber, thus forming a closed circulation pass that is positioned between the circulation passage and the drying and refrigerating chamber and passes through the heat exchangers, dampers are mounted on the partition plate of the exhaustion chamber, and ambient air preheating means communicating with the exhaustion chamber is disposed on the upper portion of the housing, thereby performing drying and refrigerating operations effectively,
This combined drying apparatus and refrigerating storehouse has advantages in which drying air is circulated and a dehumidifying operation is performed easily, drying efficiency is increased by the promotion of the gasification of coolant liquid, and the dried articles can be refrigerated without being removed. However, this combined drying apparatus and refrigerating storehouse has shortcomings in which a first group of articles must be removed to another refrigerating chamber when a second group of articles are desired to be dried while the first group of articles are refrigerated in the storehouse and a third group of articles must be completely dried and removed to another place when a fourth group of articles are desired to be refrigerated while the third group of articles are dried in the storehouse because drying and refrigerating operations can be performed selectively, thereby increasing the treatment time period and treatment cost for the articles.